Viva Energy has issued shares to new investors priced at the bottom end of its indicative range, the final step ahead of the fuel company's sharemarket listing on Friday, which will trigger a $3.4 million cash bonus for its chief executive.

The petrol and diesel supplier, which will be the ASX's largest float in more than three years, issued shares at $2.50, the bottom end of the $2.50 to $2.65 indicative range, which will deliver the company a market capitalisation of $4.9 billion.

The owners, led by global commodities trader Vitol, had the option to sell up to 60 per cent of their stake, but opted for 55 per cent given the final price.

Retail investors account for 22 per cent of the new shares, while as yet unidentified "cornerstone investors" took 47 per cent. That refers to the institutions that had pre-committed to buy shares, at an undisclosed price, although the extent to which they would receive those shares depends on the final IPO price. The practice of cornerstoning deals with institutions is thought to be one area the corporate regulator is examining closely.

The rest of the stock was bought by a range of domestic and international funds.

Related Quotes

"For us the pricing at the bottom end of the range is a real positive," said Katana Capital's Romano Sala Tenna, who said he had taken "quite a sizeable position" for the fund.

"Some people might see that as being a bit of a negative, but from our end it's a real positive because we can buy into a company we like at a cheaper price."

Mr Sala Tenna said while Viva wasn't a "sexy" IPO that could yield a 10 per cent or 20 per cent stag profit on listing on Friday, he believed it would offer a premium over the next 12 months as investors came to better understand the story and underweight index funds bought stock.

For bringing the company to market, chief executive Scott Wyatt, who ran the business when it was owned by Shell Australia, will receive a $3.4 million cash bonus. Mr Wyatt will also convert 5.2 million options into Viva shares at a cost of 82¢ each. He will also receive another 5.7 million options over shares with an exercise price of 82¢.

As part of the IPO, Mr Wyatt will also receive an "option cancellation fee", which relates to 3.5 million options that he has chosen to cancel for a cash payment rather than receiving as shares. The cash payment per options will be the difference between the exercise price of 82¢ and the $2.50 issue price, valued at $5.9 million. Together, the various options and payments are worth just short of $10 million.

Mr Wyatt received fixed annual remuneration of $896,000, including super, with potential to receive a short-term incentives of up to $1.2 million, that will be split between cash and share rights, which will take up to 24 months to vest.

Following these transactions, he will hold 5.8 million unvested options, 2.9 million of which are scheduled to vest and become exercisable in January 2019 and 2.9 million of which will vest in January 2020.

The successful mega-sale ensures the listing of a second fuels retailer on the ASX, providing a near-direct competitor to Caltex.

Last week, Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci expects to have "clarity" within 12 months about whether it will sell, float or keep its petrol business, after striking a 15-year wholesale fuel supply agreement with Caltex and increasing the number of service stations where customers can hand in shopper dockets and receive petrol discounts.